Untitled, Unscripted

"Osaka Night Trips and Falls"

Shot in one night with my cell phone camera.

Edited in one day with my Mac.

Inspired by Tokyo Reality and The Prodigy.

For more information, read the study guide/spoiler below.


What is this?

The other night I was out enjoying the Osaka night life. Time slipped by pleasantly and quickly and soon it was time to go. Hopefully I would be able to catch the last train home. I put on my earphones and switched on The Prodigy (Fat of the Land, 1997) on my iPod. On my way to the train station I encountered a dancing baby and a giant pig with skewered meat and beer. It was then that I decided I would make a little movie about my experiences that night and I shot several minutes worth of the baby and pig with my only available resource, my cell phone camera (Toshiba 910T allowing video recording in W320XH240).

As I continued to and through the train stations I encountered people returning home and/or engaged in other interesting activities. I started to put the film together in my mind. It would be a first person narrative based on the sounds and visions of my own experiences returning home. I likened it to the (in)famous "Smack My Bitch Up" video by The Prodigy (the video is constantly being removed and re-added to YouTube, so if this link doesn't work, do a search to find its replacement). Of course my night on the town and return home on the trains would be more mundane and less exciting than The Prodigy video. After all, I was a visual anthropologist making a documentary of real life experiences. I started to concentrate on certain scenes that would be necessary: trips up and down stairs and escalators, getting on and off trains, etc.

Then it dawned on me that I was making similar film as in the recent Tokyo Reality that I posted about not so long ago. This was to be my own low budget Osaka Reality. I was having a good time listening to music, making and filming my observations and contemplating such thoughts.

But then while I was transferring to a different train I happened upon the man lying on the ground. Was he simply drunk and passed out? Was he hurt and in need of immediate assistance? The music on my iPod was now a distraction to the worries in my head. The first thing I noticed is that no one was helping the man. Some people barely noticed him. Others carefully walked around him. Some seemed concerned but unsure as to what to do. A drunk man passed out on the ground is hardly a rare event at this time of night, but what if this man was hurt? I continued filming, not necessarily the man but the actions and reactions of the people around him. Finally a passerby noticed me and blocked my camera with his hand (was the passerby concerned about the man's portrait rights?).

I went up to the station attendant's office and told them about the possibly injured man. The station attendant already knew about the situation and as I turned away I saw the man being assisted out of the train station. So he was only drunk. Same old, same old...

Trying the catch the last train after a night on the town in Osaka. Who knows who and what one might encounter? Or maybe not. Maybe every night is the same.

My film changed drastically at that point. Sure, all's well that ends well, but what if the man was really injured? I was reminded of the Murakami Haruki book about the Aum Shinrikyo subway attacks; one of his main points was few people seemed to care or went out of their way to assist the victims during the tragedy. Many people walked right on by trying to get to work on time. Murakami ponders of how this is a reflection of Japanese society. Are innocent bystanders really innocent? So images of the dancing baby and partying pig were drastically cut yet their symbolism remain important.

Is this too much consideration for three minutes of poor quality video?

JSL Classes at Kwansei Gakuin

From today's Yomiuri On-line:

More and more universities beginning to offer JSL classes

At one point during a lesson last month at Kwansei Gakuin University in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, lecturer Kazumi Maekawa turned off the lights and then turned them back on again. This is a sign used among deaf people to call for a group's attention, at which her students stopped the practice exercise they were doing and faced the lectern.

The students were learning Japanese Sign Language (JSL), which has developed spontaneously among the deaf in Japan. An increasing number of higher educational institutions here have been introducing JSL as part of their language programs, with Kwansei following that path since April, when it opened its human welfare studies department.

JSL, which will be offered to freshmen and sophomores, is treated as an elective foreign language for students in the new department. The institution hopes learning the sign language will help the students develop a broader viewpoint on welfare.

...

In addition to Kwansei, Shikoku Gakuin University in Kagawa Prefecture has been teaching JSL for the past decade, while Japan College of Social Work in Kiyose, Tokyo, introduced it for this academic year.

According to Yasuhiro Ichida, a teacher in the education and training department of the National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities in Saitama Prefecture, there are an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 people in the nation whose first language is JSL.

"It's a welcome trend that JSL has been treated as a language in its own right," he said.

Read the whole story:
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/language/20090115TDY14002.htm

Feedback, please: What other Japanese universities offer JSL classes? Are the JSL classes listed as foreign languages or social welfare?

Ethics of Visual Anthropology in Japan - Part One

As long and loyal readers of this blog are well aware, VAOJ has always been concerned about the ethics of photographing and filming in public. How can visual anthropologists best illustrate various aspects of Japanese culture and still protect the lives and interests of the people we research? This question is not only philosophical and academic in nature; for me as an active visual anthropologist and teacher it is an everyday concern. What right(s) do I have as an anthropologist to take pictures/video of Japanese people living their everyday lives? And how can I best advise my students who follow the same pursuit?

These are not easy questions and Japan seems to be an especially challenging arena to explore these issues. Loyal and long readers have put up with my procrastination for some time. Many apologies are in order. And so here I go...



The goal of this exercise is to establish a set of guidelines for my students and other visual anthropologists of Japan in their pursuit of using visual media and methods in their ethnographic pursuits. To this end I have been examining ethical standards of academic organizations, Japanese privacy and portrait rights laws, practices of photographers in Japan and the experiences of anthropologists in the field dealing with real life issues and dilemmas. Needless to say the amount of information and data is overwhelming. And so I have decided rather than present a finished piece of work, I will do a work in progress presentation utilizing the advantages of the blog format. Here I can use words and multimedia images and solicit feedback through the course of my research and fieldwork. And so (once again), here I go...



Three things have especially encouraged me to end my procrastination in this endeavor. The first is that the new semester starts in less than a month. This semester I hope to incorporate more information and exercises in photography, so ethical standards of what students can photograph for the course is especially important.

The second thing is a recent article about a police officer taking pictures of a woman's legs on the train. This story is different from the usual and countless stories of men taking "up-skirt" photos. Here, a man, a police officer no less, is taking a photo on his cell phone on the train, a public space. The story appeared in Japan Today, 1/12/09:

Cop arrested for taking picture of woman’s legs on train in Kanagawa


(I provide the entire text of the story as I am unsure how long the link will work.)

A 59-year-old police lieutenant was arrested early Monday for violating a Kanagawa public nuisance ordinance, accused of taking pictures on his cell phone of a woman sitting across from him on a train on Sunday.

Shigeyuki Usui, head of the traffic section at the Misaki police station in Miura City, is accused of taking a picture of a 24-year-old woman’s legs as she sat across from him on the Keikyu line at about 6 p.m. on Sunday. The man sitting with the woman told police he noticed Usui’s cell phone camera flash and heard the camera function twice. He took Usui to station staff when the train stopped at Kanazawabunko station.

One photo of the woman’s legs was found stored on Usui’s cell phone, but he has denied the allegation, saying: “I pressed the wrong button on my phone. I didn’t mean to take a picture.” Usui also said he had been drinking at a friend’s house in Yokosuka City and was on his way home.

Link to story and comments at Japan Today:
http://www.japantoday.com/category/crime/view/police-lieutenant-arrested-for-taking-picture-of-woman%E2%80%99s-legs-on-train-in-kanagawa

So taking photos in public is a public nuisance in Kanagawa? Or is the issue that a man was taking photos of a woman in public without her permission?

The third thing is the "Picture of the Day" at Japan Today, 1/14/09.

(Image borrowed from Japan Today, 1/14/09)

Caption reads: This poster, featuring celebrities’ photos, has been put up at subway stations by the Japan Association of Music Enterprises (JAME) to raise public awareness of portrait rights of celebrities.

Link to photo and comments:
http://www.japantoday.com/category/picture-of-the-day/view/portrait-rights

Portrait rights seems to be an important issue in Japan, and although the "rights" in question in the above article seem to be for celebrities and their managing companies, the issues involved might shed important light for the practicing visual anthropologist. With this in mind, I found a couple of blogs dealing with (and mostly critiquing) the idea of portrait rights for famous people. See the following example:

(Image borrowed from dannychoo.com.)

Why is it that you always see pictures of people with their faces blurred out on Japanese blogs? Is it because that the faces have not been blurred out but are actually of people who have blurry-face-disease? The answer is Japanese Portrait Rights(肖像権(しょうぞうけん)) - rights introduced to "protect" folks in the entertainment industry but has become widespread enough to affect just about everybody in Japanese society. Read on to find out why I think that this is a bad thing.

Link to Danny Choo's article on Portrait Rights in Japan
http://www.dannychoo.com/adp/eng/896/Japan+Portrait+Rights.html

And another:

(Image borrowed from Neomarxisme.)

Infringement on their "portrait rights" (肖像権). You see, the portrait rights are not only a "personal right" (人格権) but also a "property right" (財産権). "Portrait publicity rights" (肖像パブリシティ権) are a big part of the entertainment industry's profit structure, and although there are no laws specifically protecting these rights, the courts have ruled in the management companies (jimusho)'s favor over the years. These rights mean that I can't just throw a picture of Amuro Namie on my candy bars to help sell them in the market.

Link to "Stop Using Images of People We Own!" on Neomarxisme:
http://www.pliink.com/mt/marxy/archives/2007/02/stop-using-imag.html

One interesting point here, I think, is that there are no existing laws regarding portrait rights specifically whether it be for celebrities or common folk. It seems unfortunate (but not surprising) that courts seem to side with the big businesses. Also of interest is the seemingly unrealistic aspects of these so-called portrait rights. I have witnessed on numerous occasions that whenever a famous person is in view, the hordes of people in the public are all taking pictures of them with their digital cameras and cell phone cameras. Are these people all breaking the law? Of course it depends on what these people do with the images they capture. So what is they post them on a private blog? Or an "educational blog?" Is this OK?

For the purposes of visual anthropology we really need to move away from celebrities and focus on real people. What rules do we need to follow when we do visual anthropology in Japan? What is we are doing a study on fashion and want to photograph women's legs on trains? Is this really a public nuisance? Do we need to get permission from people in public spaces when we photograph them for academic purposes? What are the laws?

I will continue and deal with these questions in my next post. Until then, please give me feedback.

Webby Talents: Share Your Disability Videos

VAOJ recently received an email from Webby Talents:

Webbytalents is a new website sharing for films made by or for people with disabilities accross the world.

It is also a new kink of platform at the crossroads between a social site and a site media designed to break down barriers for the world's disabled.

On Webbytalents you’ll be able to share and discover videos from around the world.

Nonprofits and organizations, Webbytalents helps you publicize activities and events.

It is also a good way to learn about disability from different countries.

No matter who you are, artists, filmakers, performers, athletes, heros or spectators sitting at home. Use Webbytalents to share your talents.

Everyone can participate and become an agent of change for better integration of disability.

Join Webbytalents to learn, share experiences, stories and testimonies. Upload and share videos and links.

For more information, see an article posted on Suite 101.com:
http://accessibletravel.suite101.com/article.cfm/share_your_disability_videos

Link to Webby Talents:
http://www.webbytalents.com/

A quick search didn't come up with any Japan-related materials, but there are a few deaf related videos. Webby Talents is relatively new and seems to be an interesting visual resource dealing with the so-called disabilities.

Abstract Logo: Practical Applications for Visual Anthropology

(Image comes from http://www.insideoutmedia.net/logos.html)

An interesting query from H-ASIA:

Dear H-ASIA fellow members:

An acquaintance is working on a project. Since it is internet-based, and he is naturally concerned that it have a positive image worldwide, he would like to know if the abstract logo... actually means anything in, say, Japanese, Chinese, Korean. He would be thankful to know if it has any meanings or could infer anything that may have an adverse effect on the international image.

Any comments please?

I find this request to be very enlightened. When working with logos, abstract or otherwise, it is always a good idea to figure out what kinds of meanings they might evoke. Recall the problems that occurred when the Chicago Cubs in an advertising campaign used the image of the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy flag in the background of a photo of their new player Kosuke Fukudome. Simple research into the problematic use of such a symbol could have prevented offending American war veterans and Japanese peace-niks.

I offer some possible ideas about the above logo from the Japanese context.

Does it resemble the kanji character, 古 (which generally means old)?

Does it resemble the mask of sentai ("Power Ranger") characters or Ultraman characters?

(Sentai characters image borrowed from http://www.jasonchuang.com/rangers04.html)

(Ultraman characters images borrowed from Shahizan Homepage)


Does the logo resemble or remind one of the masks worn by professional wrestlers and/or professional wrestlers-turned-politicians?

(Image borrowed from Japan Probe; the Great Sasuke became a member of the Iwate Prefectural Assembly in 2003 and later ran for governor - he lost...)


Does the logo resemble or remind of samurai armor? I imagine many of the above examples are based upon samurai armor, but I am hardly a specialist in these areas.

(Image borrowed from http://www.roninswords.com.au/armour-page.htm)

Have I taken this exercise too far? Maybe yes, maybe no. The meaning creation process involved with symbolism is complex. Interpretants (see Peirce) and chains of associations (see Saussure) are rooted both in cultural contexts and individual experiences. So, once again, I applaud the businessperson making this inquiry. Is the information in this post helpful? Are these the kinds of meanings you hope to generate for your business? What do other visual anthropologists have to say about the logo and/or the ideas expressed here?

Expensive Tuna: Why is this Weird?

(AP Photo borrowed from MSNBC.com)

This story has appeared in many places, but MSNBC categorized it as "World news/ Weird news."

Premium tuna fetches $100,000 at auction

Prized bluefish tuna is shared between two bidders at Tokyo market

Two sushi bar owners paid more than $100,000 for a Japanese bluefin tuna at a Tokyo fish auction Monday, several times the average price and the highest in nearly a decade, market officials said.

The 282-pound (128-kilogram) premium tuna caught off the northern coast of Oma fetched 9.63 million yen ($104,700), the highest since 2001, when another Japanese bluefin tuna brought an all-time record of 20 million yen, market official Takashi Yoshida said.

Yoshida said the extravagant purchase — about $370 per pound — went to a Hong Kong sushi bar owner and his Japanese competitor who reached a peaceful settlement to share the big fish. The Hong Kong buyer also paid the highest price at last year's new year event at Tokyo's Tsukiji market, the world's largest fish seller, which holds near-daily auctions.

...

"It was the best tuna of the day, but the price shot up because of the shortage of domestic bluefin," Yoshida said, citing rough weather at the end of December. Buyers vied for only three Oma bluefin tuna Monday, compared to 41 last year.

Read the whole story at MSNBC.com:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28503702

Why is this story classified as "weird?" Is this a case of: Oh, there go those Japanese again overspending on strange fish/food? Certainly it was an expensive tuna, but weird? Not so, I think. Just another case of capitalism run amok...

Anthropologist Ted Bestor has been researching about the globalization of bluefin tuna, sushi, Tsukiji and the fishing industry for some time. Click here to see a preview of his book.

"Tokyo Reality"

Tokyo Reality (Canon 5D MarkII) from utsuru on Vimeo.

My colleague, E.K., brought this video to my attention. It is billed as "The world's first non official short movie shot with the Canon EOS 5D MarkII." We get the following information in the film and at the websites:

1 cameraman with Canon 5D MarkII - 3 days in Tokyo
1 video editor with MacBook Pro - 2 days in France

More informations on:
utsuru.fr (english & french)
lejapon.fr/blog/

David Michaud, Photograph/Cameraman freelance since 2002 in Tokyo/Yokohama Japan

Florent Porta, Freelance Video Editor in France

I can't read French (those that can, please feel free to help me out with comments), but it seems that the whole point of the film is to display the tool that made it. VAOJ usually doesn't delve into the gear so much, but for more information on the camera used, check out the site below.

Information and review of this camera at Digital Photography Review:
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0809/08091705canon_5dmarkII.asp

What VAOJ usually does dig into is the way Japanese culture is represented in film and video. How do you think "Tokyo Reality" does in this regard? Technically the film is shot and edited well. The contents are on the mundane side, which is a nice change from the heavy "weird Japan" focus that many filmmakers tend to present as of late. But I wonder if it is too mundane. Is there too much focus on the train/subway? Surely Tokyo is more than that. The music is nice, but it seems to be on the mellow and almost sad side and certainly effects the visual images. So again, the question remains, what does the film tell us about the reality of Tokyo? And whose reality is it? Who is the man that the film focuses on from time to time? Personally I would like more background information on this film. Does this film want to make you seek such backgorund information? This would be one indicater of the film's success. The film has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times according to the websites, so they are doing something right. So what am I missing? Should I focus on the camera/tool and not pay so much attention to the contents? Is "Tokyo Reality" a music video (commercial) for Canon?

Mental.

(Image borrowed from http://www.laboratoryx.us/mental/)

Story from Japan Today, 1/3/09:

Filmmaker hopes to start debate on Japan's 'burnout' psyche

By Miwa Murphy

Kazuhiro Soda, a Japanese documentary filmmaker based in New York, says he has always felt uneasiness about the way in which mental illness is often associated with stigma and shame in Japanese society, saying it is as if an "invisible curtain" shields the mentally ill from the rest of the population.

His latest documentary film, "Seishin" (Mental), which premiered at the Pusan International Film Festival in October and won the best documentary award there, is a candid invitation to the world to look beyond that curtain.

A chronicle of lives focusing on a small outpatient mental clinic in Okayama City, the 135-minute film makes the viewer feel as if he or she is making a personal visit to the clinic, questioning what it means to be "sane" and "insane" along the way.

Read the whole story:
http://www.japantoday.com/category/entertainment-arts/view/filmmaker-hopes-to-start-debate-on-japans-burnout-psyche

For more information, including a trailer and blog with updated news, see the filmmaker's web page about the film.

Link to Mental web page:
http://www.laboratoryx.us/mental/

Mental health is indeed an important and usually overlooked/ignored issue in Japanese society and most certainly is a worthy subject for a documentary film. Should be of interest for visual anthropologists. Happy New Year!

Electric Christmas in Japan...

(Image borrowed from MSN Travel)

MSN Travel has a nice slideshow of Christmas trees around the world. The photo above shows Japan's contribution. Accompanying caption reads: A Christmas tree befitting Tokyo's nighttime neon display is projected onto the exterior of the Grand Prince Hotel Akasaka.

See other trees (and some very nice photos) at the slideshow.

Link to Christmas Trees 'Round the World
http://travel.msn.com//Guides/MSNTravelSlideShow.aspx?cp-documentid=377019&imageindex=1

Japan is famous for its Christmas light-up display shows, perhaps the most famous is the Kobe Luminarie which serves as a memorial for the Great Hanshin Earthquake of January 17, 1995. I have been to Luminarie a few times and it is quite spectacular. And crowded.

This year I went to check out the Osaka Hikari-Renaissance in the Nakanoshima area. This display is much smaller and more low key than Luminarie but I was still excited to see it, especially after the new extension of the Keihan Train Line and its ushering in of a "Brand-New Osaka."

I am sure there is a lot of potential for futher development in the Nakanoshima area, but I wasn't greatly impressed with the new Keihan train stations. The two things that struck me about the Nakanoshima station was its abundance of stairs (Was it three stories worth straight up via exit 6? Where were the escalators and elevators? So much for the needs of the aging society and handicapped population...) and the wavy hand rails.

Trees adorned with changing multicolored lights across from West Light Park.

Inside West Light Park. There was an aroma life display (lights and smells), a live stage, various international food booths (I enjoyed the kebab sandwich, tandori chicken and hot wine), and light displays. Perhaps the most spectacular display was the laser show (images shot on to a building which acted as the display screen).

Light-up snowmen and Santas were popular attractions, especially for people with cameras (and kids and/or significant others).




Needless to say, Christmas is a big event in Japan, although its celebration and meanings are somewhat different from western interpretations making it a great example of globalization... If you are in Japan, good luck getting your Kentucky Fried Chicken, Christmas cake and love hotel rooms...

OK, so if that's not enough to get you in the mood for an eclectic, electric Christmas, check out these links (sent to me by my good friend Myra): Click here and here (click on the X to get the match). Happy Holidays from VAOJ.